Chantal Akerman, John Cassavetes

The gods of coincidence have seen fit to bring forth two 70s classics about sex roles almost simultaneously — John Cassavetes’ “Husbands” and Chantal Akerman’s “Jeanne Dielman.” It’s an opportunity that no self-respecting Sunday journalist would allow to pass unexploited, and indeed, this guy in the New York Times does not. Let’s see how far we can get before “performativity” comes up!

“…BLONDE VENUS is an underappreciated masterwork, in my view. I think people tend to dismiss it as camp (largely because of the “Hot Voodoo” number) when in fact it’s perhaps Sternberg’s most overtly autobiographical film, and deeply moving.”

Don’t see how anyone could fail to like it more than the original “Exorcist” or not be sufficiently appreciative of its imagery to see it as a film of some interest and merit. Will have to see it is coherent, or is merely scaffolding for efects like, say, De Palme’s “The Fury.”

I’ve tracked down every Fuller except CHINA GATE. The recent Criterion Eclipse set was a great help, of course. PARK ROW – by the way – is being shown today (9-7-09) on TCM along with Richard Schickel’s Men Who Made the Movies episode on Fuller.

If anyone is still referring to this thread, the Fuller set will consist of UNDERWORLD USA and THE CRIMSON KIMONO, and three films he wrote or which are based on his stories – SCANDAL SHEET, SHOCKPROOF and a very interesting B movie with Richard Dix called IT HAPPENED IN HOLLYWOOD.